By: Cdr Adnan Umer PN
Chartered MCIPS (UK), CSCP (USA)
adnanumer06@gmail.com
1. Pakistan has witnessed numerous challenges since partition, be it combats of India-Pak 1965-71, Jihad Movement against Russia for US, War on Terror, consistent political & economic instability and now the invisible and indefinite war with the deadly virus, the COVID-19, emerging from nowhere. It needs to be seen that Pakistan has shown a consistent resiliency in confronting the aforesaid challenges, not because of its miraculous legacy but due to its geographical existence on the globe on the sacred eve of Lailatul Qadr, the vision of Quaid and the formidable and impregnable stature of our Armed Forces, un-doubtly.
2. To make Pakistan consistently future proof internally/externally, we need to critically watchdog the global outlook 2021-22, while undertaking Risk Management Predictive/ Techniques to mitigate the unknown shocks yet to hit like(COVID-19),while addressing the GEO Political /Economic and Environmental Social Governance (ESG) protocols. The gist of the said challenges/protocols is as under:
a. Embracing Triple Bottom Line (Profit, People & Planet). Today Sustainability the buzz word is the clamoring voice of the customer, beside lowest price. It demands that a product/service rendered should be contributing towards global economy, environment and social aspects. PN traditionally at its best practices is following the “The Triple Bottom Line”. In case of economy, PN is delivering the most economic advantageous and value added service delivery to its end-user with adaptation of Total Life Cycle Cost Optimization practices. In this context, Maritime Technical & Support Services (Pvt) Ltd MTSS, being the subsidiary of Bahria Foundation is rendering competitive technical/ logistics, and repair /replacement services to PN at grass root level while slowly exploring economic indigenous solutions, thus bringing considerable savings to the National Exchequer, above all.
b. With regard to People, PN as per its core values i.e Courage, Commitment, Faith & Character Development Quality is also dispensing human welfare activities in the entire country in many dimensions. This may include, the swift and agile conduct of disaster relief operations and medical relief camps (OPS MADAD) being conducted at war footing, along the coastal areas areas. Furthermore, today, Bahria Foundation, one of the pivotal welfare arm of PN is dispensing education facilities to almost 80 Bahria Foundation Colleges, covering 30,000 students in rural/ urban areas of Pakistan at economic and competitive educational standards, Alhamdulillah. Nonetheless, PN has also set a sacred benchmark in rendering qualitative /free education & growth opportunities to approx. 544 in no solely dedicated Special Disable Children’s of Pakistan out of which 48% are civilians, through its chain of Special School of Children’s (SCS) located Karachi, Islamabad and Mauripur. Moreover, (SCS) Naval Anchorage Islamabad is already under development and will be shortly made functional, Insha’Allah.
c. With regard to Planet, PN observed Maritime Day (WMD) 2021 in harmonization with International Maritime Organization (IMO), last week of
Sep 2021 along with a theme “Sea Farers: At the Core of Shipping’s Future”. This theme has been celebrated in full swing across PN Bahria Colleges . PN has always pledged full support towards development of maritime sector and reassured its commitment for reduction of marine pollution for a green and clean sea frontiers and environment of Pakistan. In this context, PN has recently taken a major initiative for the revival of mangrove forests along the coast. The Navy has planted 07 million mangroves from Shah Bandar to Jiwani. This landmark initiative would certainly contribute in achieving the 10 Billion Tsunami target of the Government, Insha’Allah in days to come.
d. COVID-19 and Exchange Rate Remains a Top Geopolitical Risk vs Domestic Growth. For Pakistan, the propeller of growth should be sustainable and not dependent solely on the remittances, aid from IMF and friendly countries as seen temporary and an unprofessional approach as per my opinion. Therefore, growth target as set @ 4.8% by the Govt should be realistic on the pretext of strong export policy reforms of goods and services, less reliance on import bills, accelerating localization which in turn reduces Balance of Payments (BOPs), and pressure on the Foreign Exchange, which ultimately maintain stability in the exchange rate vs Greenback and even with other major currencies i.e Yuan, Canadian Dollar and Euro etc. Henceforth, the recent blanket gains in Roshan Digital Accounts (RDAs) to the whopping 29.37bn$ in 2021 while (narrowing the Current Account Deficit from 4.49bn$ in 2019-20 to 1.85bn$ in 2020-21) is no more a feat, where the country is projecting sluggish export rate shackled with BOPs, thus securing zero gains from the hard earned remittances from the overseas of Pakistan.
e. Collaboration of Procurement and Finance team for a Unified Budget to Pay Model. Pakistan needs to synchronize their procurement plan with finance team (budgeting forecast), under a unified “Budget to Pay Model” while resorting to Supplier Base Optimization (SBO) to secure competitive advantage/value for money from most trusted and reliable supplier base. Why this important, because organizations who have healthy and sound cash reserves/inflows in their balance sheet are found to be more stealthy and adaptable in confronting the fatalities of COVID-19 and headline inflations.
The Present Concern of Supply Chain and Procurement leaders.
3. In days ahead, six essential questions leaders have asked amid the pandemic:
a. How do we inject cash inflows into the business to fund essential investments?
b. How can we source backup supplier in case of disruption of supplies in COVID-19?
c. Can we leverage the speed of digital?
d. Can we ensure safety and accuracy for customers and employees via automation?
e. How do we avoid risk into our supply chain?
f. How do we do it all quickly?
4. To secure the aforesaid future critical objectives, following strategies/best practices may be beneficial as under:
a. Procurement/supply chain leaders of Pakistan should evaluate new parameters/metrics and investments. Demand sensing/shaping should be intelligently predicted using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools etc to safeguard maverick spending/working capitals and ensure that purchasing occurs only when/before demand exist/capacity permits.
b. In March 21, M/s Evergreen the giant, has run aground and blocked the Suez canal during the supply chain which impacted 40bn$ worth of trade. In this context, Pakistan must emergently adopt such strategy to secure its Supply Chain/business from unprecedented pandemics i.e COVID-19 to deliver value added services/goods (exports) with continuity, reliability, economy and security.
c. Pakistan must invest in Information Communication Technology (ICT) to gain and maintain technological superiority and competitive advantage in its economy, trade and business aiming for the Post Pandemic Voice of Customer i.e Speed, Reduced Cost, Agility, Customization, and Transparency.
d. The more end to end visibility in the Supply Chain/Business, the less would be the risk. This methodology should be engraved in the Procurement/Supply Chain Professionals to build a resilient, sustainable and nimble supply chain that may recover quickly with a sharper response than ever before. In this context, Risk Management Techniques of Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, UK (CIPS) are recommended to be practiced.
5. If 2020 was a pandemic shock that broke the Economic Engine and Supply Chains of the globe, 2021-22 can be the year for Pakistan to rebuild a Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chain Echelons, provided the aforesaid best practices are followed for a future proof Pakistan, Insha’Allah.
